Popeye's Sea Stories

One quick question. What is the primary mode of pest control aboard naval ships? During the age of sails sailors actually brought cats aboard for rat/mice control. What is the animal policy aboard USN ships?

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No pets allowed!

Never served on a ship that had rats or mice.. nor have I ever heard of an USN ship having such critters. USN uses rat guards to keep those vermin at bay.




Notice the rat guards on the most forward mooring line.

MAURA, Brunei (Nov. 9, 2012) Sailors, Marines and Royal Brunei Armed Forces personnel attend the closing ceremony of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Brunei 2012. The guided-missile frigate USS Reuben James (FFG 57) is moored in the background. CARAT is a series of bilateral military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Timor Leste. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Clay Doss/ Released)

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As for bugs. Usually the Co will seek out a sailor that has experience in pest control and assign him the task. This was the case on the America and Hancock.

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Things I remember about the '71-'72 MED cruise on the JFK....

I got there on March 24th 1972 the ship was in Rhodes Greece. A great port. I did miss port calls at Naples, Thessalonika & Corfu Greece..

We hit a lot of ports in the MED.
Rhodes, Athens (twice), Izmir, Genoa, Cannes, Malaga, Palma(4 times ), Barcelona. Some place named La Madaleana in Sardina. We also anchored with no liberty at Naples, Souda Bay Crete & somewhere in Sicily..

I remember the "gut"(bar/other district) in Palma was off limits but that never stopped me.

Barcelona had two guts..

Athens had road-runners..

We got extended on our cruise about three times..First time the America was sent to Vietnam. Then the Saratoga was sent to Vietnam. Then there was a major fire on the Forrestal, what else, in port in Norfolk...Finally the Forrestal relieved us in September. Then they sent us on a short stint to the North Atlantic to be a part of Strong Express. We were supposed to stop in Scotland. There was a vote. The skipper said it was a tie and he cast the deciding vote and we headed back to Norfolk.

The ship was super clean. Cleanest I ever served on.

On the aft mess decks the JFK had ice cream parlor. the only one on any ship I servered aboard.

The mess decks were always open. In the lag time when aft was closed the foward mess deck was open and vice versa.

I remember the radio station DJ on night check kept playing Bob Dillion tunes. I could not stand that DJ. Can't stand Dillion. Sings like a cat is being strangled. One night a buch of mates went up to the movie studio and threatened the DJ over his love of Dillion. The Dillion music ceased.

The very first day the ship went to sea when I was on board an H-2 SeaSprite helo crashed and I saw that because I was on vultures row. They called man overboard and I did not know what to do. ..So I headed to my work center..Good move.

Movies were shown in the crews lounge almost nightly.

We had the only shop on the ship with red tile. Ordies ya' know!

Non-rates had to wear uniforms in Spanish ports the first day or two.

In Barcelona there was some big soccer game between Russia and Scotland..I never saw so many drunks in my life.

I took a bus from Malaga to Tormlinias and on the way back the bus nearly crashed..more than once. The bus driver was nutso.

We went to Cannes France and it rained every day.

Liberty was very liberal on the JFK. But many times when when you went on liberty you better have a fresh haircut.

On the JFK you could not wear jeans or t-shirts on liberty. Your shirt had to have a collar.

We had a lot of visitors in port. A lot.

The JFK was the only ship I was ever on that always had fresh milk. I think because we were frequently in port.

The only time the B'sun whistle was blown is if the CO had something to say.

I flew off the ship the day before we got back to Norfolk to go on emergency leave.

The ship finally got back to pier 12 at NOB in Norfolk on October the 6th 1972. I made 6 and a half months of a 10 month and one week MED cruise.

The cruise book sucked.Big time. I still have it in pristine condition. Not a single color picture and it's full of mistakes. I think a blind monkey with a pencil edited it..

Back in the day. On the JFK..the Big John!.

In my early years in the US Navy alcoholism was very much tolerated if not expected...Myself the most I ever drank in my whole life was when I was stationed in Japan. Personally I've had no alcohol since Super Bowl Sunday 2003.

On the JFK out division Chief was nicked named "Chrome Dome". He was bald and even though he was only 35+ years old to us young sailors he was an old man.

Needless to say the man drank a lot in port. A lot. a whole lot. When I was first assigned to my division on the JFK after mess cooking he had just been to Captains Mast (Article 15) for assault and battery. Seems he and another CPO got in a fight with some Italians beat the crap out of them. The Shore patrol ushered them off to Fleet landing and sent them back to the JFK. When they got on board they got into some verbal arguments with the OOD(Officer of the Deck) & CDO(Command Duty Officer). A lot of cussing and hissing. When they went to captains mast.(article 15) Mind you this was in 1972 they received each a very strong verbal reprimand and that their recommendations pulled for Senior CPO(E-8). In todays navy circa 2012 they would have been reduced in rank and maybe given the boot to civilian life along with another than honorable discharge.

On the Midway there was a AO1 LH in G division. I never saw the man on liberty any where sober. He drank on the ship at sea. He made his own nasty drink. He had a hook up in the ships store. He'd buy cases of Listerine. Which use to be 35% alcohol(70 proof) and mix that with bug juice and drink it. Funny thing is AO1 LH never was ever in trouble and was a excellent AO1. And a some of the brass knew about his drinking. They did nothing. last i saw him he was staggering down the main drag in Olongopo City in 1975. From what I understand in his whole 20 years in the USN he was never on shore duty. Sadly he's probably no longer among the living.

Yesterday(March 24th 2012) was an anniversary of sorts for me. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of me arriving aboard the USS John F Kennedy CVA-67. She was anchored out in Rhodes Greece. We hadda take a liberty launch out to the ship. It looked so massive. Impressive. Awesome. But what's more awesome is actually serving..especially in retrospect..

That day started early for me. I flew in a C-130 from Rota SP to Naples Italy. Then on to Sigonella Italy. Next and last stop Rhodes Greece. We had started out at about 6:30am by the time we got to Rhodes it was about 2100 or so. we took a harrowing bus ride in a Mercedes Benz bus down to fleet landing. Like I stated we had to take a liberty launch out to the JFK. The ship looked so massive. She was all lit up. Impressive..most impressive...my boot camp butt was wondering how I would ever find my way around the ship. The liberty launch tied up at deck house 4..on the fantail. I wrestled my gear to the afterbrow and reported aboard. We were taken through the Jet shop into the hangar. The hangar deck was empty. All the aircraft were neatly spotted on the flight deck. All of us ships company non-rates were assigned immediately to mess cook division aka S-2M. Since it was Friday night we did not have to check in until Monday. That was the very liberal 1972 USN.

As I've mentioned many times the USS John F Kennedy(CVA-67) was my favorite ship. I made many a post about that ship. Many Sailors will really understand the below post I made in a yahoo group about 5 years ago.

Man...To be able to walk those decks just one more time...just one more time. I'd love to see that cold gray old girl just one more time...smell those shipboard smells..eat chow..tell sea stories...

I loved that ship..Memories of days long past.

Shipmates;
Skyboy, Slick, Monk, Rebel Smith, TG, Willie "O". Chief Chrome Dome, Bozo, Butch, Bullet Bob.& Lightin'..and all the rest..

Liberty call..."Kennedy expects to anchor at fleet anchorage Palma de Mallorica Spain at time 0900..Liberty will commence in accordance with the Plan of the day".

Norfolk, Portsmouth, Mayport, Palma, Barcelona, Malaga, Athens, Cannes ,Rota, Izmir, Rhodes, Genoa , Naples, Gaeta, Livrino...

Work..

The word was passed:
"Now muster the Charlie working Party abreast deck edge elevator #2 with Thomas CS2."

Ammo onload/off load, unreps, vertreps, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie working party....Flight quaters...and field day...

You knew we ordies were working when the word was passed;

"The smoking lamp is out from frames 68 to 88..165 to 195 second deck and below while handling ammunition."

Call me a sentimental old fool..I don't care..I love that ship.

It was my first..

Yep.. I was stationed aboard the USS John F Kennedy CVA-67..AM & G Divisions...Homeported at Naval Operating Base Norfolk VA.

I wuz a very young man then and I wuz in 'da real NAVY!....

Big Daddy Popeye USN/retired

JFK sailor from 24 March 1972 till until I meet Jesus.....

Another story from my days aboard the JFK...

I was very fortunate when I was a mess cook(KP) for the first 100 days when I was aboard the JFK. I did not work in the galley. I worked for Cargo. We broke the chow out of the store rooms and refers below decks for the crew. The man I worked for was an real old salt. CS2 Thomas. Dude use to smoke big stinky cigars. He had broken service but had a total of about 18 years in and he was due to retire soon.... and he was happy to tell anyone about that! My man had hook ups all over the ship. From the laundry to the ships stores, ward room ,CPO mess he knew someone to get what ya needed.. Well when I reported to the ship even though I had not been trained other than boot camp he assigned me to Rescue and assistance detail. We had to assist the In port fire party or if some fool fell overboard in port we had to get in the Whale motor boat and try to rescue their dumb butt.

Any way we were anchored out inport in Palma de Mallorica Spain a beautiful place in July 1972. I had duty. But I wanted to go on liberty so I could have a few cold ones and enjoy the companionship of the friendly natives..in the gut...So what I would do is wait until the in port fire party drill is over..then have someone stand in for me while I went on liberty for about 3-4 hours..

So this day I did that. Went on liberty..headed straight to the gut..did my thing..more than once . Got drunk. Came back to the JFK. Drunk as a skunk. Told the shipmate that was standing by for me I'm back. I was hungry so I went down to the mess decks to enjoy some of that fine JFK cuisine. I was still loaded sat down for chow and I heard these words..

"Man overboard! Man overboard! Starboard side! Duty motor whale boat crew & rescue and assistance detail man the starboard motor whale boat!!"..Oh crap..So I stagger up to the hangar deck put on the helmet and the K-pock life preserver. We were mustered up I was still drunk and the boat was being lowered into the water. Then the saving grace of these words was passed.." Secure from man overboard"..Whew..that was a close call..I got sober real fast!

Seems what had happened was this ..Some drunks were on the F'socle skylarking around. This shipmate stuck his head out of a mooring line porthole to yell obscenities and then he fell through. Just so happened that the EOD divers were working over the side and rescued his dumb ass.

I never skipped out on my duty day again!

OMG...that's still one heck of a fall to hit that cold frigid water! That's good to hear that the sailor was rescued safely.

Equation said:

OMG...that's still one heck of a fall to hit that cold frigid water! That's good to hear that the sailor was rescued safely.

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Oh no..it was not cold. This happened in the summer of 1972. in July I think. I betcha it was at least 80F that night.

You gotta love the USAF. You do. Them boys got it made! I know there are many USAF types that bust arse and face danger everyday....

My USAF story..

In 1976 while stationed at NAS Cubi PT RP the Clark AFB runway was being re-surfaced. So we at Cubi Pt hadda host(baby sit)some of those fine Air Force boys. Many were sent to Okinawa but just as many came to Cubi. I was assigned to Weapons Dept as Armory and pistol range Petty Officer. The USAF airmen that we at Weapons Dept had to host were Security Police. They were escorting "Speical Weapons " That were being flown into Cubi Pt for the USAF.

When those USAF guys came down to Cubi Pt the first thing they did was move in and out of the BEQ in a matter of minutes. It was open bay and those little Air Force tykes felt it was substandard quarters. Oh well so the head cheese USAF MasSGT got on the phone to someone at Clark and got authorization to move into a hotel in Olongopo City. Ruff life them boys had!...

Well as time went on they complained about the way the USN did things. The only thing they seemed to like was the chow. It was good at Cubi. One day I took a group out to the Red Label area to observe how sailors load bombs. They were shocked to see that the USN loaded bombs by hand.

One thing that surprised me is they did not understand USN ranks. They assumed that because I was an second
class with two stripes that I was and E-2. Believe you me I corrected them on that. When they realized I was an E-5 with only 5 years in they were shocked....They said most guys in the USAF did not make E-5 until about 8 years in...

Those fellas spent a lot of time on the phone with their wives. You'd think they were on a cruise or something. They were at Cubi Pt for about a month. Jeez I had at sea periods longer than that!

I always thought many of the USAF airmen I met lacked a sense of humor. They hate it when the Navy slaps a squadron or command sticker on their aircraft. In the Navy when that happen we just planned to get even.. No big deal.

I know that when sailors went to Clark AFB frequently we were pulled over in our POV for the most minute offense. Or just BS. Don't get me wrong I liked Clark. It had slightly better facilities than the Subic/Cubi complex. Excellent base.

Keep 'em flying boys!

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More from the USAF

Once when I was at NAS Miramar some F-15 from Luke or Nellis came down to Miramar for Top Gun...We went out to check out those Eagles. One of our guys started making fun of the F-15 landing gear as compared to a carrier borne aircraft. Some of those airmen were really getting pissed. It was just a joke. Personally I have a lot of respect for all men and women in uniform... By the way these airmen did not stay in our "substandard" barracks..they stayed in a hotel..Ruff life!

On Diego Garcia we could not get close to the KC-10 & 135s C-141s & C-5s that landed there nearly daily. I will tell you that the USAF maintainers that did come there were really professional. Some shipmates got to go on short re-fueling flights with the USAF with the proper permission.

Keep 'em flying boys!

In peace or war there is not much variance in your job serving with the US Navy.. Now in ordnance there is a spike in your workload during wartime..but not so big you cannot adjust.

I remember at the start of the first Gulf War the USN came out with an edict that we would have to ramp things up and possibly work 12 hour days.. Never happened at Miramar as far as I know for AIMD. Of course I was on the Nimitz at the time..I remember our skipper, "Steamboat Willie" tried to get the Nimitz deployed immediately but the higher ups said no. We finally got to the gulf region after most of the shooting was over but our aircraft did return fire on those enemy position that still were in operation.

Old Steamboat was cool. He loved to run that Nimitz at high speed. Dunno why. Maybe because he could. He always gave MAX LIBERTY] in port...

sweet words here;

"Nimitz expects to moor at Alava pier, Naval Station Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines at time Zero Eight hundred"...Yep..and the "Nummie" was always on time when Steamboat Willie was at the helm!

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Rated - PG

the USN had strippers on base in some EM clubs years ago..

Back in late '72 & early '73 when I was on the JFK sometimes at lunch guys would go over to the NAS Norfolk Acey Ducey club(E-5 & E-6) and drink beer and watch strippers for lunch. The club was open for all hands at lunch time. I remember they had a short chicken wire fence around the strippers. That's so sailors wayward hands would not touch them..But ya' could still stick dollar bills through the chicken wire.

I went with them once or twice..I had a couple of rum and cokes..that's all my 19 year old butt knew how to order..Yea they'd serve ya' on base under age..as long as you were 18..

Enywho we were all loaded up in someones car heading over to the club for "Lunch". Parked ..went inside..NO Strippers!!! What happened?..Seems the Navy Wives Club caught wind of the shenanigans going on at lunch ..launched a protest to the CO and he made the club get rid of the strippers..

Oh well..

End PG rating.

The best enlisted mens clubs were at Subic Bay. They had "Hostestess"...To me the best club was the Sapamagita Club.. It was near the main gate. They had like all the Clubs on base excellent food, slot machines. Cheap booze, Live music, dancing. There was a Filipino Band that appeared there frequently called the "Hangmen". They could play just about any kind of music and really do a great job of mimicking the sound of your favorite band. Dang..that was long ago. Seems like a dream..back in the day.

Yep..In Subic you had the Sampagita Club & Acey Ducey Club. You had the Fleet Reserve where old drunks that were retired in da' PI hung out. And the Staff NCO club ..with the best food on base!.In Cubi Pt I cannot remember the name of the enlisted club on the mainside of the base but there was another club out in the jungle on base near the MAU (Marine Amphibious Unit) camp called the Sky Club. That place was really nice. All these clubs had "hostesses". Plenty of them. Slot machines, Just nickel and dime. Nice restaurants. Dancing and live music. Rec rooms etc. No video games..they were not invented yet. And cheap booze. Happy hour >> 10 cents a drink.

Now the clubs in Clark AFB were nice too. About the same as the Navy clubs. I think the USAF slot machines were very loose. Because one day I won two jackpots on a dime machine. On about 4 pulls of the handle. It was only $75 bucks each. But when you were pullin' down about $450 a month..I think..That's a big chunk of change. But every thing in the Philippines was so cheap back then. On base and off. Seems I was never broke there..never..

On base at Subic they had a recreation facility that did not exist for the USN stateside. Go cart track. It was not open all the time because of two things..Drunks and rain. Some drunk would crash or try to take off with a cart and it closed. And it rained about 6 months out of the year there. I remember that they had horse back riding..But there was also horseback riding at Miramar in San Diego.

Another thing that was great in the PI was the movie theaters on base..there were 4 of them. And the movies were only .25 cents The movies were about 3-6 months behind first run movies back in the World.

It all seems so long ago..and it was August 1975 to October 1977. A long..long time ago..

bd popeye said:

As for shore duty..if I discount Cubi Pt I'd say when I was at HSL-31 at NAS North Island from October '77 until November '80 that was the best shore duty. Why? Because until the last 4-5 months I was there we only worked 4 days a week.

I remember the first day I checked in there it was a Friday. The only shipmates around were the weekend crew. I got my orders signed and was told to comeback on Monday..Sweet!

We were supposed to work 10 hours a day but hardly anyone did. We had to spread ourselves thin but it worked out. It was a great squadron. The hangar is still there but empty. Just an excellent squadron. We never lost an aircraft while I was there. Considering we were an Fleet replacement Squadron..that was outstanding!

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Great stuff, popeye. Seriously, you should right a book about all of this. It would sell very well and make you and yours a lot of money, as well as excite the imagination of a bunch of young people, and bring smiles to thousands of old sea dogs.

Call ti something like, "Popeye the Salior recounts Sea Dog Tales of the US Navy, 1971-1991 (or whatever the years were), By: (your name goes here). I'd be happy to help if you were ever interested.

For eight years I worked a 4x10 shift for Uncle Sugar. Best work shift I ever had in almost 40 years of work. Always had a three day weekend that let me get the honey-do's done and let me spend time on things I liked as well, as well as attending church regularly.

After my cancer in 2010 and all of the surgeries, recovery, rehab and resulting disabilities (for those interested, I have a full journal of the entire experience ...but beware, it is a long read), it took Uncle Sugar 18 months to finally officially accomodate me and I went back to a five day eight hour work week. Never missed a day pay though, through the leave share program, enough of my mates in my agency and in other, mainly DOD agencies I know, donated enough leave to cover my entire 6+ months away. So, no short or long term disability and the job was there for me when I came back as if though I had been on vacation the entire time.

But I sure do miss those 4x10s though.

OTOH, I am grateful to be alive and to be able to continue to work full time in an area I really enjoy. Also have seen three new grandkids born since returning...the latest of which was born on December 14th just past. A Christmas Eve baby, born to her father, who was also a Christmas Eve baby 28 years before when I was 28 years old myself. So the circle of life continues to turn.

Thanks Jeff I'll give it some thought.

I was on the USS John F Kennedy CVA-67 from March of '72 Until August 1973. I loved that ship.

During the two Mediterranean cruises I made on that ship we visited Palma de Mallorca, Spain 8 times. Yep we spent a lot of time in port all over the MED back in da' day!..

Palma is a very beautiful island in the Mediterranean. Millions of tourist vista that island annually. Especially from April until October. Palma not only had your typical sailor hang outs it had great night clubs, restaurants, beaches and sights to see.

Well we squids like to explore and low and behold we found a small amusement park about seven or eight miles from fleet landing. they had this chinsey baby roller coaster, merry-go-round some carnival games and a go-cart track.

The roller coaster was so weak you could stand up on the thing..weak..

Anyway..at this park they had some carnival games. One was throwing a ball at some bottles. If you knocked over the bottles you won this giant bottle of rot-gut champagne. It was huge. At least a gallon and a half.. Since American are so gifted at hand and eye sports..baseball, basketball & American Football.. we had no problem knocking over those bottles. Euros throw like girls ya' know. Plus the carnies there did not have the sense to weight down the bottles..duh! weak carnies!

Sooo. By the afternoon many days sailors were all wandering around in this little amusement park drinking these bottles of rot gut champagne in the hot Spanish sun. Guys where on the go-cart track driving those little hot-rods and sluggin' down champagne at the same time. Of course some decided to ride off the track.. Ridin' on the roller coaster standing up and switching cars.. Of course this sort of behavior was not tolerated long by the owners of this fine establishment. Soon after complaints to the USN then with an suggestion by the USN, the bottle knock down game was discontinued and the behavior of the sailors involved calmed down substantially....

All this meant is that more sailors would be drinking in the bars in the "Gut" and chasing fallen women..

I stand redeemed...

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Mickey Mousse=Rules that are applied to adults as though the adults are children.

In another forum this was posted about Mickey Mouse rules;

I'm inclined to agree about the Mickey Mouse, but we keep having junior sailors get in various type of trouble (both personal and... umm, international).

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Like I said ..it's Mickey Mouse. BS in other words. I understand the image of the USN overseas and not wanting to have altercations with host nationals...I understand.

In my non-rate 17-20 years old days in the Navy we had in a general sense while deployed;

In the early seventies if you got drunk your buddies would pour you back to the ship or Fleet landing and take care of you. And if you were not belligerent Nothing would happen. Now a days you are placed on report or even given a breath alizer test and you liberty is restricted. In Japan you have to go on liberty with another sailor and there's a curfue at 2200(11pm)

In the early 70s it was Max over night liberty in every port for all hands in WESTPAC and the MED. Except the first day in a Spanish ports non-rates hadda wear a uniform and be back on fleet landing by midnight or you could turn into a report chit.

On the Hancock we did have a liberty risk system for those boneheads so inclined to get into trouble. I think that system was in place on the Nimitz but I was a PR1(E-6) by then and did not really care about that. None of my guys ever got in trouble on liberty.

Judging by how the USN treats non-rates today I woulda been hating the Navy if I were a non-rate today...And probably would have gotten out. Good liberty was one of the reasons I re-enlisted the first time.

In early April of 1975 while the Hanna was inport in Subic the second day in I hadda stand Shore Patrol.

Shore patrol in Olongopo was a little different than other ports. First you were inspected by the OOD on board your ship. If you weren't squared away you were by the time you left the ship you'd be in big trouble. Then you had to muster just outside the main gate at Subic at the HQ of 7th Fleet Shore Patrol. there you where inspect again. Well just so happens the day I had shore patrol when I stepped out of the truck one of the Stationed "dito"(here) permanent Shore Patrol told me don't fall in come with me.. I'm wondering what did I do? ..well he just selected me to ride shotgun with him. All we did that night was ride around PO city. The first stop we made was Po city police station to see if they had any wayward sailors there in custody They did not. We went there several times that evening. It was pretty peaceful that night. All night this shipmate shore patrol is telling me how great it is to be stationed in the Subic/Cubi complex. And reminded me that being there was not a full time party. By the end of that evening I was ready to ship over! He was a great salesmen! That evening many shipmates did not have overnight liberty because everyone was under orders to get underway in short notice. So at about 2330 they had to head back to the ship instead of spending the night in an hotel or residence with a hostess

The Philippines was under martial law at this time. Everyone had to be off the streets and indoors by midnight otherwise you could be arrested. So at about 2330 the bars started to close and everyone was herded back to the main gate of Subic. Fortunately we did not have to participate in this round up. We went to the main taxi stand at the main gate on base and watch drunks stand in line to wait for a taxi. Guys are drunk..being held up by their shipmates. Our job was to watch out keep any situation from turning into "Fist City" the worst thing that happened was some dude barfed in a cab soon as he opened the door..Nice.

Only on one other occasion did I ever stand shore patrol in Olongopo. When I was on the Nimitz I stood shore patrol in Subic City. And was teasing the folks out there in my limited Tagalog.

The time I did stand shore patrol in Olongopo is was too uneventful until the end of the evening when all the sailors that were not "hooked up" for the evening had to be herded back to the main gate. The problem is not with my fellow squids but was with the hostesses..They constantly taunt, tease, grab and proposition you as you herd your shipmates down Magsaysay Drive..better know as the "Main Drag"

Back in da' Day!

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Loan sharking was big business for some..back in 'da day. We called it a slush fund.. In the Philippines we had a division "Slush Fund" 20% intrest on a loan. I think you could borrow up to $100 bucks.

You could buy shares in the slush. And every six months there was a pay out.

True story. The guy that ran the slush in PI when first got there was AO1 LA..AO1 LA was the division LPO..If ya' needed a few bucks before payday he was da' man to see. He also held the cash generated by our gedunk. Anyway like I stated he would divvy up the slush according to the shares every six month. Well he transferred and passed the slush fund to AO2 HJ. AO2 HJ was a real honest guy.. But we found out 6 months later that AO1 LA was not an honest guy. Enywho after 6 months we got our payout from the slush fund. Everyone was surprised because our shares were nearly doubled! Holy crap Batman! After a thorough check of the books it was summarized that AO1 LA was ripping us off. We always wondered why he walked around with the slush fund in his pocket..And guess what? We could do nothing about it. Why? Because slush funds are illegal. We broke the slush fund up after that incident.

I did see AO1 LA at NAS North Island. He was at VS-41. I just acted like he was cool..knowing all along he was a thief..